KING DONALD I

“Off with their heads” roared King Donald the dragon-lady slayer, his face flushed red with anger. Standing nearby was his most trusted aide, Sir Stephen from the House of Bannon, also known as the Dark Knight. “Pray tell, what has so vexed thee Sire. Is it the rabble marching through our cities that doth protest your ascendency to the throne? For if this is so, I shall, forthwith, dispatch a cadre of our finest archers to sling quivers of arrows into their midst. They will then surely disburse and flee with fear and terror, as their blood darkens our fair streets.”

“They do cause me much concern, but that is not the reason for my present wrath” replied the king. “Rather it’s certain mayors in our fair land that dare to defy the edicts of their benevolent monarch by declaring that their domains will provide sanctuary to the filth entering our country without proper authorization from the king’s authorities. In open defiance of my wishes and declarations, these mayors insist on protecting this filth from my sheriffs that seek their ouster from our provinces to which they have illegally entered.” “Ahh, a most grievous act of treason to be sure” answered Sir Stephen. “Such defiance of the monarchy surely would warrant that the guillotine be sent hurling upon their necks. But I fear that if we do undertake such action, it would only cause additional rabble to rise up in protestation. But I may have a better solution that would surely curb their treasonous behavior.”

“And what might that be,” asked King Donald impatiently. ” A very simple action” replied Sir Stephen. “Simply instruct your Chancellor of the Exchequer to cut off any further disbursement of coin of the realm to these cities. Without any additional largesse from your most benevolent majesty, these mayors will soon enough come groveling on bended knee, pleading for mercy before the throne. The protection they provide these foreigners who who so blatantly and illegally invade our fair land will evaporate like the morning mist. We can then return these hordes to whence they came, and whatever hellish fate might await them.” “Yes, I truly relish this concept,” stated the king. “Draw up the papers for my signature immediately. There will be great merriment and celebration in the royal ballroom tonight.”

Thus begins another Shakespearian tragedy, one that Shakespeare is, unfortunately, not around to finish. But the matter of the coming Trump administration’s reaction to so-called sanctuary cities is still a matter of deep concern that is not going away. There are currently about 10 sanctuary cities, including San Francisco, Los Angles, New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. that provide protection to undocumented immigrants from federal authorities seeking their ouster from the U.S. The mayors and administrators in these cities have all stated that such protections will continue despite the ascendency of president-elect Trump to the Oval Office. In response, Trump has stated that the federal government will cut off all financial aid disbursed to these cities. That would constitute an enormous loss of revenue, a loss that would seriously impair the current level of services provided by our largest metropolitan governments. And as usual for a Republican administration, this loss of revenue will fall most heavily on the poor, the sick, the poor elderly, and minorities. It will be fascinating to see which side blinks first.

As I write this, there is currently a large kerfuffle underway about whether to appoint Mitt Romney as Secretary of State. Thus far, most of Trump’s selections have been off-the-charts right-wing extremists, so the appointment of Romney to one of most important posts in the administration would almost provide a touch of sanity and reasonableness. That’s why I don’t believe it’s going to happen. For example, Trump has appointed an arch-typical Southern racist bigot to be his Attorney-General. Good luck with any further civil rights actions being initiated. Also nominated as Secretary of Education is a women known to be a huge foe of teachers unions and public schools in general. In her world-view the responsibility for educating our children should be wholly turned over to charter schools. And the supposedly leading figure to be Secretary of Defense is a retired Admiral which, for the first time, would, in-effect, end the practice of civilian control over the military. A practice, I might add, that has been in effect since the founding of the republic. And the beat goes on as the voters, in their infinite wisdom, have put an American-style fascist regime into control of our government. With the Democratic Party basically in shambles, there will be little opposition to Trump as he evolves our democracy into a Putin-style despotic tyranny. All because about 110,000 normally Democratic voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan failed to show up at the polls.

Here in Las Vegas where I live, summer temperatures often are in the neighborhood of 110-115 degrees or even higher. Being in an affluent seniors community, virtually every home owner hires gardeners to maintain their landscaping. Without exception, virtually every gardening company utilizes undocumented Mexicans to perform this yard work in the blazing summer sun. After all, no one born in the U.S. will toil in that kind of backbreaking heat. You can tell these workers are not American citizens, because except for the boss, none of them speak English. I was just wondering who these affluent seniors in my community, most of whom voted for Trump, will hire to perform their landscaping once Trump boots all these illegals out of the country. Who will pick the summer fruit off the trees in California once the illegals are gone. Who will make the beds and clean the rooms in hotels across the country without illegal chamber maids. Something all the Trumpenistas might want to consider when they start wondering what they have wrought.